The monthly survey of the Portuguese Hotel, Restaurant and Similar Association (AHRESP) for April concludes that companies in the sector registered improvements in activity with the progress of the easing of lockdown plan, but "the situation is still worrying, as a result of more than one year with huge losses".

According to the data collected, in the catering sector, 26 percent of the companies are considering going into insolvency, given that the realised and expected revenues will not bear all the costs that result from the normal functioning of their activity, with more than half (52 percent) having turnover dropping in April by more than 40 percent.

As a result of the still strong reduction in billing, 11 percent of companies were unable to pay wages in April and another 11 percent only partially.

Given this reality, 40 percent of the catering companies say they have already made redundancies since the beginning of the pandemic.

"Without further support to non-repayable funds, 31 percent of the companies assume that they will not be able to keep their business running", said the association.

In tourist accommodation, 19 percent of the companies indicated that their activity was suspended, 43 percent did not register any occupation in April and 27 percent indicated an occupation of up to 10 percent.

For the month of May, 32 percent of the companies estimate a zero occupancy rate and 28 percent of the companies expect a maximum occupancy of 10 percent, the same study says.

In this context, 11 percent of the companies in the sector are considering going into insolvency as they are unable to bear all the normal costs of their activity, and 40 percent of the companies surveyed said the drop in turnover in April was over 90 percent.

As a consequence of the strong reduction in billing, 22 percent of the companies were unable to pay wages in March and 5 percent only partially did so.